


A Not So Normal University life.

by Denise276



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Car Accidents, Explosions, Fire, Ghosts, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 06:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12126900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denise276/pseuds/Denise276
Summary: Jongdae is interested in a mystery classmate. Turns out they both are hiding a little secret from each other.





	A Not So Normal University life.

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [cc_round4](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cc_round4) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> A has the ability to see ghosts and other spirits. One day he meets and befriends B, a grumpy guy who dresses mainly in black and only seems to be around when there's been a death in the area. A hasn't figured it out, but B is actually a grim reaper who hates his job.
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: Thanks mods and I hope I do this right. Prompter I hope you like this! To everyone reading please note that this is fiction and that's all its meant to be. Please enjoy!

Kim Jongdae was elbows deep into his Chem II homework when the students at the table in front of his clears out. This happens a lot in University since packs of students sometimes forget when class actually starts and while they are struggling to finish reports that are due, time is forgotten until the last ten minutes of freedom makes itself known. So when the group set down at the table right next to the one right next to it, Jongdae is confused as hell. Then he notices why. 

Jongdae doesn’t know his name but has seen him around. Always in a bit of a rush with the way his hands fly over any keyboard it touches and with the way he runs around the campus, always in the darkest clothing Jongdae has ever seen and with a sour look on his handsome face, it's no wonder he’s always alone. This was the first time in a long time though that Jongdae has been this close to him. 

He doesn’t mean to stare, but it was hard to _not_ look away. The guy hides his features under his fringe but his round cheeks and small but full lips were always standing out and distracting. Jongdae kinda wishes he’d look up so he could get a better look. That’s when the guy’s phone buzzes and Jongdae hears him swear before he’s packed up and is out the door. 

Jongdae sighs as he looks back down at his homework. “Distraction over,” he mutters, finding the place he left off. 

That’s when he hears it. The loudest crash. Everyone in the room is out of their seats and in front of the floor to ceiling windows trying to find the source. Well, almost everyone. 

Kim Jongdae feels the tale tail signs of death even from inside the library and he’s packing up his things to head home in the opposite direction of the crash, opting to use another exit of the building. It was best this way. Always best that way... 

The just dead were not the friendliest of spirits for obvious reasons you see; and Jongdae has learned from a very young age to not involved himself with those ones in particular. It’s bad enough to suddenly die but to also run into the one living person in a five mile radius who can hear _and_ see you is a little alarming for both parties. 

In the beginning though, it was more...normal than anything else. Jongdae would come home from school and play with any kids he ran into while in the fields behind his house. He never questioned why some of them wore old clothes he only saw in period dramas or the ones that dressed as if they came right out of his grandparents childhood pictures. His four-year-old mind had so many questions but Jongdae was trying to win their game of tag to much to care. It wasn’t until he came home talking about all the fun he had playing with Sooyoung from down the road that he knew something was very _not_ normal, since little Lee Sooyoung wasn’t _suppose_ to be in his backyard. She wasn’t suppose to be _any_ where for that matter because she was dead; and had been for two years. 

Jongdae remembers the look his parents gave him as his eyes grew big, and the small ‘Oh,’ that came from his lips. His father’s shaking laugh saying maybe he heard the girl’s name wrong. 

But Jongdae knew he wasn’t wrong. 

He new something was not normal. 

Not normal at all. 

From then on, he never spoke about the kids he figures out were of the non living or what it meant that he could see them at all. Questions like those never led to anything good for anybody anyway so he kept everything to himself. He'd done some research on the subject but it was hard to really know what was fact and what was fiction. 

Jongdae shakes his head as he thinks back to those early days. He needs to focus. Midterms are coming up and he can’t afford to fail any of his exams. 

“Excuse me young man?”

Beside Jongdae is a very pale looking woman holding a sleeping baby. “I dropped his bottle could you--”

Jongdae smiles politely as he bends down to pick the baby bottle up. “Here you go, Ma’ma.”

“Thank you,” she gives him a small bow before turning and dissapearing into the wall of a nearby store. 

He use to wonder why he one the one to end up with these special abilities, but as he grew up he just accepted it. 

Hopefully everyone on the street was too busy to pay attention to him talking seemingly to himself. Again. Jongdae hurries home before something happens again.

 

“Long day?”

“Yeap.”

“Someone died?”

“Yeap.”

“Oh that sucks. Can you turn on Goblin for me, I didn’t see the last three episodes last night.”

Jongdae looks over at his translucent friend. “Chanyeol, it's my study time.” 

“But I promise to be quiet,” the ghost begs. They stare each other down until Jongdae is reaching for the remote and his headphones. Chanyeol shouts joyously as he flies in front of the tv and away from Jongdae’s desk. 

“Why do you even like this drama when you know it's not real,” Jongdae can’t help but ask. Chanyeol shrugs, “The acting and the storyline are still good and it's so funny!”

“Whatever.” Jongdae huffs out a laugh, grabbing his headphones and finding some Dean songs to stream while he knocks the rest of his homework out. He would study in his room more often but Chanyeol normally talks his ear off until he goes to sleep at night. The ghost was really happy when someone was finally given his room and he could actually _talk_ with a person again without scaring the shit out of them. Thank god the ghost knew the importance of mid terms. 

Jongdae was trying to figure out what he’d just read when he spots his favorite mystery person jogging across the lawn below. He wonders where he’s going in such a hurry. Always in a hurry. Must be something in---

The fire alarm sounds and Jongdae turns from his desk swearing. At least he was still in decent clothes. 

“I hope to see you soon and that everyone is OK,” Chanyeol groans as Jongdae heads for the door. 

“Me too,” he says back before closing the door and following the flow of students quickly making their way outside. Thankfully the sun was barely setting but the sight that greets everyone was like out of some horrible movie. 

The newly built Science building was engulfed in flames.

“Holy shit,” someone breathes out, shock evident in their voice as everyone took in the burning building. 

“You got that right.”

Jongdae didn’t bother to stick around and runs in the opposite direction of the fire. His heart felt it again; like it always does; someone; maybe several; has lost their lives. 

 

“Here you go,” an older woman smiles as she hands him a cup of hot chocolate. He breathes it in before taking a sip, his nerves calming a little. Jongdae was at his favorite coffee shop, thirty minutes from his dorm. The university was still telling students not to come back to the area yet and really Jongdae was glad to be away. 

Normally, he’ll feel someone passing on once or twice a month but this.... It hasn’t been this bad since he’d been staying in a hostel next to a Hospital his first semester. 

Jongdae sighs to himself but hear's an even louder sigh come from his left at the same time. 

Mystery guy was sitting by the window with his face in his hands. 

“Today keeps getting more abnormal,” Jongdae mutters to himself as he decides to if he should leave the guy be or take the seat across from him. With another loud sigh coming from the mystery guy Jongdae makes his choice. 

“Hi.”

The guy looks up, surprise clear on his face. “Um, Hi.”

His voice is soft and Jongdae instantly gives his most friendly smile. “Rough day?”

“Yeah,” the guy sits up in his seat and lets his hands fall to the table gently, his black long sleeves almost hiding his hands completely now. “You could say that.”

“I could,” Jongdae nods tipping his head to the tv in the corner covering the explosion that the University, “but I hardly doubt it's just you who's having it rough.” 

He hums and Jongdae takes another sip of his hot chocolate. 

“You can sit down if you want,” the guy offers and Jongdae does just that. 

“I...I’m Jongdae by the way,” he gives the guy another smile and receives one in return. 

“Joonmyun.”

“It’s nice to meet you finally.”

“What??” 

“Umm.” Jongdae eyes go wide and Junmyeon eyes are almost the same but a little worrisome. 

“You...I see you at school. At the University. And I always wanted to know your name. You. I mean I wanted to introduce myself to you.”

Jongdae has never been this awkward in his entire life. Why was today being so weird??

“Oh...okay then.” Joonmyun says with a hint of a laugh and opens his mouth to say something but is cut off by the wailing of an ambulance. Then his phone buzzes. 

“Shit,” He stands frowning at his phone, “Sorry,” he tells Jongdae. “Work. Have to go.”

“Alright,” Jongdae nods and stands too. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Yeah,” Joonmyun gives him a polite smile. “Have a good night.”

Jongdae watches Joonmyun leave in a hurry, going in the same direction of the ambulance. It was his turn to sit down and place his face in his hands. The day had went from normal to not nowhere near normal in a matter of a few hours. 

But it was just one day out of hundreds Jongdae thinks as he swallows the last of his drink. 

Surely, he assures himself, that things will be back to normal. There was no way a day like today could happen again. 

 

Jongdae’s walk home from his evening classes is quiet except for the few cars passing by on the street. The campus is calm after last night’s incident, ruled an accident until the investigation is complete. Some workers were moving some supplies into a storage room and something went wrong. Three dead and seven others injured. Very sad. 

Jongdae notices his right shoelaces need re-tying. He ties them and takes two steps forward while wiggling his shoe to make sure it's comfortable when he bumps into someone.

“Oh I’m sorry," he says as the person holds on to his arm as he balances himself. There is a hint of recognition on his face. It’s Joonmyun.

 

“I’m sorry too...I...should have been watching where I was walking.” Joonmyun coughs as he steadies Jongdae, his dark jacket flowing in the small breeze. 

Jongdae chuckles, "that should be my line but I guess we both can share it, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Joonmyum replies with a light unsure smile of his own. He lets go of Jongdae’s arm and the smile is goes with it. “Jongdae right?”

“Yeah, you remembered.” Jongdae is kinda breathless from Joonmyun being so close and wow does the guy have pretty eyes. 

The sound of loud buzzing startles them both. Jongdae watches as Joonmyun’s face turns into a deep frown.

“Work again,” Jongdae asks lightly. 

“Unfortunately ,” Joonmyun sighs darkly as he reads the message and pockets his phone into his black pants pocket.

“Well, it was nice running into you again, Jongdae.”

Jongdae smiles, “ You too.”

Joonmyun gives him a small wave and starts running down the street, away from the school. Jongdae can’t help to wonder what type of job a University student would have that has him on call. That’s a little odd but not unheard of. He wonders how Joonmyun pulls it off. 

 

 

“Maybe he’s a cop,” Chanyeol guesses as he flies around. “There are always undercover cops here. I bet he’s working an underground video game sting operations. 

Jongdae gives Chanyeol a look.

“What,” the ghost pouts, “it could be true.”

“No way.”

“Well, you could always bring him over and i could scare it out of him,” Chanyeol offers.

“Not doing that either.” Jongdae doesn’t bother to look up from his Economics homework to get the ghost to see why that’s a bad idea. 

“Can I have at least one friend that has a body here,” Jongdae ask. All his other friends were back home or at other Universities. He just _had_ to go to one school place with the best Science programs. 

“Alright, alright,” Chanyeol sighs loudly and falls back onto his bed. “But at least get his number so i can listen to you two talk dirty.”

Jongdae would punch him in the arm if he could but he learns years ago you can’t punch a ghost. But he could blow them. 

So he does, pulling his hair dyer from his desk drew and turning it on to full blast. 

Chanyeol’s scream was worth his neighbors swearing at him for drying his hair so late at night. 

 

 

“Hey,” Jongdae greets Joonmyun as he slips into a chair in front of him. 

“Hi Kim Jongdae.”

Jongdae pauses from taking his study materials out. “You know my last name.”

“Your student I.D. is right there,” Joonmyun supplies with a point of his finger to the name tag around Jongdae’s neck. 

“Oh yeah.” Jongdae forget. He keeps his laugh down. “I forgot, so,” he starts, “Are you off today or are you always on call? Are you like a cop? Do they ever call you during class? You don’t get in trouble for that?”

Joonmyun raises his hands up in surrender. “Uh, I don’t know what this is, but I was not expecting twenty-one questions this early in the morning or like..ever.”

After taking a breath Jongdae tries to explain. “The last two times we’ve ran into each other, you have to leave and I want to get to know you. I don’t have to know what you do for work but...other things. I want to know. Like why all black all the time? Dark blue or tan would bring out your features you know? Uh...Things like that. I really want to get to know you, Joonmyun.”

He eyes Jongdae, and really there was nothing else Jongdae could say to explain his interest without coming off like some kind of creep who has been watching Joonmyun since last semester. Hopefully he wasn’t sounding like a creeper right this minute. That would suck. 

Jongdae watches as Joonmyun hesitates briefly before shrugging. “Fine. I will answer everything I want to answer but anything I don’t want to talk about I will say ‘Try again’ and you have to move on. Deal?”

Jongdae beams at Joonmyun and happily agrees. This was going to be fun. 

 

~~

 

It's been four months and thankfully Joonmyun hasn’t gotten tired out Jongdae asking him questions. He’s also ask Jongdae questions as well. They learn a lot about each other but Joonmyun will not tell him what he does for work. It’s the one mystery Jongdae can’t solve. But he swears that he’ll figure it out and force Joonmyun to confess. 

The job seems important and no matter what time of day, when he gets a call, Joonmyum’s gone in seconds to take care of it. Jongdae just wishes they could get more than fifteen minutes together though. It makes him wonder how Joonmyun gets to finish his coursework with such a hectic job; but he’s not going to pry. Besides, he’s keeping a secret to himself as well. 

Jongdae also wishes the number of fatalities around the school and city would go down.

He knows people pass away everyday but, either every time before or after chatting with Joonmyun, there’s a death. Some are minor; others not so much. Shaking the feeling of them all is getting to be harder by the minute and running away only works for so long. Even Chanyeol thinks it's a bit strange but not uncommon. With the town growing along with the expansion of the university, more people are moving in and with that comes the rise of the number of dead. 

“Never thought I’d see you look worser than me,” Joonmyun says in greeting as he places a hot chocolate in front of Jongdae. They decided to meet at the coffee shop today. Joonmyun has time to ‘hang out’ today for some reason and Jongdae doesn’t question it. 

“I just need finals to be over it.”

“I bet you’ll do fine,” Joonmyun comments, taking a sip of his coffee. He cut his hair last week and Jongdae felt like he was dying from the site of it. He was told to stop being dramatic when he told Joonmyun exactly how he felt about the new look. 

“I hope I do; but I guess you have nothing to worry about,” Jongdae pouts. “What are you trying to do anyway; get a degree to get a promotion at work?”

“Try again,” Joonmyun says taking a sip of his own drink. 

“How did you get a day off?”

“They gave me one.”

Jongdae eyes Joonmyun, hard. “This is your first off day in forever, though.”

Joonmyun sighs and Jongdae can feel himself winning this round. “Yes. It is. I have been working over time like you said so I got a message on my phone that says OFF DAY. Happy now?”

“Yes, I am.” Jongdae smiles, drinking his hot chocolate. “I was wondering when you took days off, since no job is allowed to work someone as much as they work you. Plus you’re in school, too. Junior year is loaded with classes and--”

“Jongdae, you can slow down today remember; i just said so,” Joonmyun laughs, showing his perfect smile and Jongdae can’t help but think how cute he is. 

“You have a very nice smile,” Jongdae says softly.

Joonmyun’s little gasp and the slight blush on his cheeks makes Jongdae smile as he hides behind his cup.

“Well, that’s something I don’t hear often,” Joonmyun admits. 

Jongdae pauses. “Why do so many people say that?”

“ Say what?”

“That they never got that compliment before? It's so strange. I wonder if it’s this University or something.” Jongdae scratches his head. Chanyeol had said the same thing when they first meet and honestly Jongdae thought he was bullshiting him. 

“Jongdae?”

“Hmm?” Jongdae watches as Joonmyun sits up a little straighter in his seat. 

“Who’s Chanyeol?”

Jongdae freezes. 

“I...what?”

“I told you,” Joonmyun takes a cool breath, “you didn’t have to rush our time today...but you just said something about a person name Chanyeol?? Who’s Chanyeol, Jongdae?”

Jongdae took a breath in and releases it slowly. Joonmyun is watching him closely and this feels off. Very, very off. 

He closes his fingers around his almost empty cup. 

“Chanyeol is my roommate.”

“You told me you roomed alone,” Joonmyun counters. Jongdae groans. 

“I know...Officially I do.”

Joonmyun squints at him, “I don’t understand. Are you...letting a friend from home rent the other bed from you? You can get in trouble for that…”

Jongdae runs a hand through his hair. “It’s...not like that either.”

The confusion on Joonmyun’s face makes Jongdae wary. 

“Look...Joonmyun,” Jongdae licks his dry lips. “If...If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”  
This look of surprise is clear across Joonmyun’s face but he quickly masks it. 

“Try me.”

Jongdae stares at Joonmyun before making the decision. 

“Alright...so...Chanyeol is my roommate but the school doesn’t know about him because he’s a ghost. He’s haunted the room for a long time before I came along. He died in a white snap back and a red supreme hoodie so he isn't _that_ old in terms of being dead...I think...”

Silence. 

More Silence. 

“So...you see a ghost of a dead guy in your dorm room,” Joonmyun asks. 

Jongdae shakes his head. “Not just him...I...I see them all.”

Joonmyun nods slowly. “Just...how long have you been able to see them?”

“All my life, really,” Jongdae adds, “normally it's not a bother or anything, but recently the number popping up has been on the rise so...”

“So you’ve noticed when they die.”

“Yeah, I mean i can feel when it happens and….” Jongdae sits back and looks oddly at Joonmyun whose not looking back at him but down at his phone. 

“You weren’t asking me that were you?”

Joonmyun blinks. “What?”

Jongdae feels the air shift and is instantly on edge but holds his ground. “Joonmyun...what do you mean by, ‘So you’ve noticed when they die’?

Even more silence. 

Jongdae’s mind starts running a mile a minute. He thinks back to every time he’s seen Joonmyun even the months before they started hanging out and chatting. 

He thinks of Joonmyun running to and from every place he’s seen him at and one thing that’s always near, no matter the time of day was the one thing no one can run from…

Death. 

.  
.  
Oh. 

Shit. 

“Oh shit!” Jongdae exclaims and he jumps from his seat. The manager tells him to watch his voice and Jongdae apologizes and looks back at Joonmyun who looks even more tired than ever before. 

“I guess you’ve figured it out...,” he whispers, downing the rest of his drink. He doesn’t make a move to get up out of his seat. 

“Please sit back down Jongdae.” Joonmyun says so quietly Jongdae almost misses it as he calms down besides their booth. 

He sits. 

“What were you texting? Who were you texting? Is that from like God??! They get cell service all the way up there?! Oh my god, you got Jesus on speed dial?! This is unreal,” Jongdae whispers furiously across the booth. 

Joonmyun pinches his lips together and Jongdae almost gets angry but he really likes when he smiles. 

 

“Ok, please calm down,” Joonmyun begs. Jongdae tries.

“I take it you know what I am then?”

“A Reaper,” Jongdae states. “ For the record, I don’t know what you you really do expect open a door to the road for the afterlife for the dead and never go in yourself right?”

“Correct. That’s my job, opening the gateway for souls. Its really the worst job ever.” Joonmyun grumbles; and everything from the sour looks to the bags under his eyes and the dark clothing makes sense. 

“Oh my god,” Jongdae wails into his hands as loud and softly as he possibly could. 

“I know this is a lot but, Jongdae,” Joonmyun pulls Jongdae’s hands down. “I need to talk to Chanyeol.”

“Will he be ok? You won’t force him to leave my room will you?” The thought of losing Chanyeol was not something Jongdae had ever thought about and it was honestly a worrisome thought.

“I promise I won’t force him to leave. I don’t even like doing my job!... I just need to ask him a few things before I go back to work. They'll know if I don't process him in our database after I've found out about him and--”

“Alright,” Jongdae gives in to the craziness of it all. “Let’s go back to my place then. He should still be up waiting for me in bed.”

A lady besides their seats scoffs at them and that's when Jongdae looks down and Joonmyun is still holding his hands. 

Jongdae rolls his eyes at her and stands, taking one of Joonmyun’s hands correctly. “Come on, the bed is way nicer than these seats anyway.” 

“We’re going to get banned from coming back here,” Joonmyun chuckles when they make it out of the coffee shop and down the road headed to the campus. 

“Doesn’t matter. I can fix my own hot chocolate. I still can’t believe I was trying to date a Reaper.”

Joonmyun stops walking which forces Jongdae to stop too. 

“So...you’re not going to try to date me anymore?”

Jongdae becomes keenly aware of the zero space they have going on at the moment and surggs. “That’s up to you...and your age…”

“I’m really twenty-seven. I wasn’t lying about that.”

“Good,” Jongdae cuts it short there and starts walking again. “It’s a good thing it's your day off. After you get done with Chanyeol, we’re making out and you have to tell me how you became a Reaper.”

“But that’s a long boring story that I’m still pissed about,” Joonmyun mumbles. 

“Well it’s a good thing you’re off until sunrise, Reaper,” Jongdae smirks, “We got more than enough time.”

“Woah, how did you know about that rule??”

“Try again.”

“What have I gotten myself into,” Joonmyun laughs.

Jongdae lets go of Joonmyun’s hand to throw an arm over his shoulder to lean his forehead against the side of Joonmyun's. 

“I guess you'll just have to wait and see.”


End file.
